Love Shapes
by PersephoneQ
Summary: Merlin,Gwen,Arthur,& Morgana are all members of their band,Camelot & close friends.But when their ex-band member,Lancelot,reappears with a new band,just in time for the Battle of the Bands,secrets are revealed.Will the good times last? Eventual Merthur
1. Swimming or bust

That morning, Merlin was awakened by a cold, wet substance suddenly attacking his face. Opening his eyes and sitting up in bed, he saw his room mate, Arthur, standing above him with a water gun aimed at his face. Merlin was about to tell him off (it's not nagging, he swears, though Arthur and Morgana disagree) before he felt his head start spinning. Then Merlin remembered the party they had held the night before, celebrating all of the four friends not only passing their finals but passing with flying colors. As was expected when your house mate was the smartest person in your school. Literally. They'd had her tested.  
>Anyway, the party was more of a private celebration among good(ish) friends, Merlin, Arthur, Gwen and Morgana. Arthur had started the party out by bringing home three six packs of beer, saying that it was the "only way to party right". Merlin and Gwen, both strongly opposed to all forms of drugs and alcohol, were completely against the idea, while Morgana was suddenly struck by a brilliant idea. After some whispered words with Merlin, he and Morgana, both competitive, blunt, honest, and the bane and shine of Arthur's existence, insisted they bring out Rock Band. Who ever got the lowest score had to drink a bottle. They agreed and the fight began.<br>It wasn't long before Gwen and Merlin were completely drunk, Morgana couldn't stand straight, and Arthur kept insisting to no one in particular that he was only just beginning to feel tipsy. Though he was really telling this directly to the Teddy bears they had all made each other for Christmas. Oddly, they all looked the same; yellow with the odd patch of multi-colored heart fabric here or there. On Merlin's, it was over his left eye, Morgana's was on the right eye, Gwen's was all over his stomach, and Arthur's was on the inside of both the hands and the feet. They had all stitched whatever they had named their bear in purple thread on their belly.  
>Now, back to the present, where Arthur had dropped the gun carelessly onto the floor and was busy downing Tylenol and Diet Dr. Pepper. Because his football coach told him he needed to watch his weight, he'd gone from unhealthy eating and working out like a jock (because he was a jock) to unhealthy eating and working out like a jock, plus a Diet Dr. Pepper. He threw the Tylenol at Merlin and opened the mini fridge, pulling out a root beer for Merlin without even having to ask what he wanted.<br>Merlin always thought it was funny how Arthur insisted he hated him, but knew more about him than anyone else. Well, that is, other than his twin sister, Morgana, but that was a given.  
>Merlin nodded and grabbed the plastic bottle, mumbling a thank you before gulping it all down. He then set the half finished drink on his bedside table before laying back down and trying to go back to sleep.<br>Arthur merely chuckled. "Oh, isn't that cute? You think you can go back to bed?" He was squirted again. Merlin attempted to ignore him. Maybe if he pretended Arthur didn't exist and didn't snap at him, he would just go away. Like a bad dream. Unfortunately, this tactic apparently didn't work on living nightmares. The covers were ripped from him and he was squirted repeatedly.  
>"Now get up or I'll pull your shirt up and squirt you there."<br>Merlin immediately shot out of bed, falling off the side and onto the floor. He got up and held his aching head, looking like a wet, crumpled heap of too-big shirt and equally misfitting pajama bottoms in the form of an 18 year old boy.  
>"Not. Cool. Arty.", Merlin said moodily.<br>Arthur snorted. "Like I care. And don't call me that."  
>"Make me." Merlin stuck his tongue out at Arthur, who was about to do just that when the door opened. Outside were Morgana and Gwen, both attempting to walk and pull shirts and shorts over their bathing suits. They looked at the two boys curiously then their gaze moved to the bed.<br>"What happened?"  
>Arthur snorted, letting go of Merlin's shirt. "Merlin wet the bed."<br>Merlin tried to protest but found himself unable to correctly form sentences. He instead settled on waving a hand at the three annoyances and headed over to the clothes closet/dresser, taking off his shirt and throwing it on the floor on the way there. Arthur did a wolf whistle, Morgana whooped, and Gwen blushed and laughed at the other twos antics.  
>"Very funny, guys. Hey, here's an idea, why doesn't someone tell me why my sister and my best friend are in skimpy bathing suits? 'Cause I would really like to know."<br>Arthur faked a pout. "But I thought I was your best friend?"  
>Merlin stuck his head out from inside of the wardrobe and gave Arthur an unimpressed look. "Never in a million years, Arty. But it's nice to see it's you talking again, not just the hangover. Welcome back."<br>Arthur shrugged his shoulders, not able to argue with that logic. "Good to be back."  
>Morgana interrupted, using a politely annoyed. "Hey, Merlin? Yeah, I was just wondering if you were still wondering why we are in bathing suits or if you were good with just chilling here with Arty all day."<br>"No!" both of the college students answered simultaneously.  
>"Well then, the answer to your question is this: Get dressed in swim trunks; we're going to Kiwi Lake.", she answered with an excited smile like this was the coolest thing we'd done in years.<br>Arthur and I just looked at her blankly.  
>Her happy expression evaporated and she suddenly looked very tired and testy. "Look, I called Gaius and he says the best cure to a bad hangover is a good swim or bath in cold water. So we are gonna go to Kiwi and swim for an hour, then get smoothies at Merlin and Arthur's new job, right in time for their first shift. Enjoy. If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen making breakfast."<br>She then sulked out of the room, a worried Gwen following after her.  
>As soon as they were out of hearing range, Merlin turned to Arthur.<br>"Do you think she'll be mad when she figures out we completely forgot to fill out the resumes, let alone schedule a job interview?", Merlin asked as he slipped on a pair of blue swim trunks and a baggy orange swim shirt.  
>"Yeah, probably. We can fill out the resumes at the lake and I'll call the owner and ask for an interview for us. It's not that big of a deal though. Didn't he pretty much tell you we were guarantied to get the job, interview or no?" Merlin nodded as he walked over to the door, grabbing his root beer on the way there. "We're just really lucky that my Uncle Gaius is dating the owner. Though it's kind of weird when I go to work at his bookstore and see them making-"<br>Arthur covered his ears. "Ew. Don't say it. Old people love is gross enough without details."  
>Merlin stuck his tongue out at Arthur, who had just noticed Merlin's over-sized shirt and had to stop himself from laughing out loud with a hand to his mouth. "Um...Hey buddy, I think you got the wrong shirt."<br>Merlin looked down and frowned. "Really?"  
>Arthur laughed and went to pick up a smaller orange shirt, throwing it at Merlin. Merlin quickly switched into the shirt, throwing the other one at Arthur who slipped it on. They both fit perfectly on the teens. Merlin smiled brightly, then headed out the door and into the kitchen, Arthur close behind him.<br>In the kitchen, Gwen was busy cooking and Morgana was busy catching up on her sleep on the bar counter. Merlin quickly went to help Gwen with the eggs which he feared would burst into flames soon if no one flipped them. Arthur stole a piece of bacon from the plate of finished food, then went to grab plates, forks, and drinks for everyone.  
>"So Gwennie, what's for breakie?", Arthur asked as he "set the table". Aka, he put plates at the end of the bar and put the forks, spoons, and knives in a coffee cup next to them. He put the drinks on the bar in front of the seats they usually sat in. Except Morgana's, which he put down the back of her shirt. This woke Morgana up with a start and she quickly pulled the drink out and glared at Arthur who put his hands up in defense.<br>Gwen smiled and rolled her eyes at both Arthur's wording of his question and his harsh method of waking up Morgana. "The usual. Omelets for you, pancakes for Merlin, biscuits and honey for Morgana, Waffles for me, and enough bacon to feed an army."  
>"Does Merlin even know how to make an omelet?", Arthur asked as Merlin finished cooking the two eggs and began filling them.<br>"Yes, Arthur, I do in fact know how to cook. And if you're not careful, I'll make a mistake and pour hot sauce in it before I give it to you."  
>Gwen laughed. "It's true, when we worked at Ihop, if he didn't like someone, he spat in their food before he brought it out to them."<br>Arthur almost choked on his diet Dr. Pepper laughing and Morgana was hitting his back like crazy. Merlin severely doubted that this would have helped, had Arthur really been choking. After Arthur calmed down, he looked at Merlin skeptically.  
>"While I think that's funny as heck, and it's good that you're finally sticking up for yourself, if you do that to my food, I will literally strangle you. Just a warning."<br>Merlin laughed and put the finishing touches on his omelets before grabbing a plate. "Watch this.", he said excitedly as he tossed the omelets into the air and then caught them on the plate. Gwen clapped, Arthur murmured something that sounded like "show-off", and Morgana turned to Arthur, saying, "I taught him that."  
>Merlin handed Arthur his pancakes, then turned to Morgana. "I'm about to make hot chocolate. Want some?"<br>Morgana giggled. "Is there even a need to ask?"  
>Gwen smiled, happy that the two twins were getting along for once. While Morgana and Merlin didn't often get into actual fights, Morgana was very fond of teasing him.<br>"You are both so weird. You do know that normal people stopped drinking hot coco after Christmas, right?"  
>Merlin laughed, while Morgana said, "Yes, but if you haven't noticed, we're not normal people."<br>It was true. Gwen had skipped two grades, being 17, and was the smartest kid in their college. She was majoring in Math and Science, but her real talent was her violin. She was extremely talented and wanted to eventually become a composer for pieces performed on it. She was of African decent and had flawless almond colored skin and curly, glossy chocolate colored hair.  
>Morgana and Merlin had skipped one year and were a different story. If you were to list the amount of things they had in common, you would say they both had jet black, wavy hair and pale, porcelain skin. They both loved coco, and gave up on being ordinary a long time ago. They both liked the colors blue, green, and orange, but were indecisive so instead of having them listed as first, second, and third favorite, they were first-first, first-second, and third. The idea had been that green and blue were both first and could be interchangeable. They were both hypocrites and they knew it, but tried to refrain from showing it a lot. They changed what they liked faster than you could pinpoint and hated most fruits and vegetables.<br>Other than that, there was nothing. Merlin was incredibly smart, but easily distracted and hated studying. He was a college getting a general degree, not because he wasn't good at anything in particular or because he couldn't decide what he wanted to be, but because he was good at too many things. He was a pianist as well as a singer. He was an artist and a writer. He loved history, drama, and literature. He was an optimist and a pessimist. He was confusing and had never been someone you could label. In middle school and high school, he had floated from table to table, not really having any friends but not having any enemies either. He was well liked by everyone, yet they thought he was weird. He changed his style often, sometimes all black, sometimes all color, sometimes both. He loved all types of music, except country and rap, and especially less known bands. Those bands he always posted on his Twitter and Facebook, gaining them more popularity.  
>Morgana was beautiful and graceful (unlike her brother, who couldn't stand straight, often tripped over nothing, and had a habit of tilting his head to the right without noticing it), but when she opened her mouth, you couldn't help but wonder where all that lady like presence from before had went. She loved teasing people and was found smiling more often than not. She loved drama and was a talented actress when it came to getting what she wanted. She loved make-up, but believed that you should not use it because it was only covering up the natural beauty god had given you. She liked dresses but insisted that she had man legs. It wasn't true, because they had compared her legs to her brothers and they were almost the same (Merlin would never hear the end of it, after Arthur found out he had girl legs). She wanted to be a high school European History teacher. She loved pop music and was a skilled guitar player.<br>Arthur was a tall, blond, 19 year old football player. He didn't particularly like football, but played because it was sort of expected of him. He was extremely popular, attractive, and the son of the boss of the biggest and most popular record company, Pendragon Studios. Which was a helpful thing when the four friends decided to form a band.  
>He had met the other three on his first day of the fifth grade, when he accidentally picked a seat next to Gwen. They talked and he learned he shared most of his classes with her. Then, halfway through the school year, Morgana and Merlin had moved in. The twins had demanded that they share at <em>least<em> all their core classes, and their P.E. classes were at the same time. While Arthur only shared two core classes with them, they were all in the same study hall and all four of them were in jazz band, where Arthur played bass guitar. After they were all listed the best in their sections, they decided to become a band with the help of Arthur's father. Their first gig was the fifth grade talent show, where they decided to call themselves "Camelot". In sixth grade and seventh grade, they didn't see much of each other outside of band practice. Then in high school, they gained a new member, Lancelot. He was on Arthur's football team and a good friend. He played drums and fit in well with the rest of the group, especially Gwen, who he began dating. Then, after he broke up with Gwen, he left the band as well. In a way, he pulled the group back together. After he left, there was a gap in the group, but after a while, the gap was almost gone. Now they were closer than ever, even enrolling at the same college, Albian College. Unlike most people, none of them had any relatives or friends with enough space for all four of them. So, seeing as they were all opposed to college dorms, they bought a house. It was small, with only two rooms, two bathrooms, a living room/entry way room, and a kitchen. The girls shared one room while the boys shared another. They all paid for it equally.  
>Anyway, Merlin quickly heated up water and poured in coco mix. After he stirred, he put sprinkles in it, then whip cream, then more sprinkles. Arthur blanched.<br>"Geez, Merlin, think you got enough sprinkles in there?"  
>Merlin sneered at him, handing Morgana an overly sugared cup of coco. Just then the oven and microwave simultaneously dinged, signaling that both the waffles and the biscuits were done. Morgana smiled and went to get the honey. As she loaded up her plate, she also grabbed a plate and a few waffles for Gwen, setting the plate in its rightful spot on the bar in front of her chair. Gwen smiled and thanked her.<br>Now that they had finished everyone else's meals, Gwen and Merlin began on his pancakes. They used the type that didn't require raw eggs, so it was okay to eat the batter. After they poured enough batter for at least six pancakes onto the skillet, Gwen began flipping them (when they were ready, of course) and Merlin began devouring the rest of the batter with a spoon. It was common knowledge among the members of the group that Merlin was completely obsessed with pancakes and loved the batter more than anything. After all, it was quite good.  
>After they all finished eating their food, they began packing a bag for the trip.<br>"What do you think we'll need?", Merlin asked helpfully.  
>"Um..towels definitely. Remember, the water gets really cold in the morning. We'll need to bring the beach ball and that noodle thing. Then food and drinks. Arthur and I will cover that, you guys just go find the water stuff. And remember to bring sun screen Merlin, you know how easy we burn."<br>That was also true, but embarrassing. Merlin and Morgana were almost albino in skin color and were incapable of getting a tan. In fact, once, when the group decided to go canoeing, they had accidentally forgotten to bring sun screen, and they had been subjected to Morgana and Merlin's whining for almost two weeks after. Although, in their defense, the sun burns were bad enough to leave water blisters.  
>After their bag was packed, they all climbed into the SUV they all shared and headed out to Kiwi Lake. Kiwi Lake was actually an undiscovered lake the group had found as kids and named. No one really remembered why they had called it Kiwi Lake but it was called that now and that was that. It was hidden by the impressive amount of trees surrounding it and didn't see a lot of rain so it stayed pretty clean. They had made a dock and a rope swing a few summers ago, though it had taken a while. All in all, it was beautiful. It was third on Merlin's list of favorite places. Out of five, that was pretty good.<br>As a rule, Arthur almost always drove. Merlin was terrified of driving, having yet to get his license and really not wanting to get one ever. Morgana got distracted too easily to stay on the road and Gwen liked to take naps while they drove. Apparently, riding in a car made her sleepy.  
>While Gwen slept, Arthur, Morgana, and Merlin were having an intense argument over what music to play.<br>"Arthur can you put this in?", Merlin asked as he passed Arthur his iPod, pulling up a specific band he had fancied lately.  
>Arthur took one look, snorted, then threw it back at him. "The Strokes? Really? No. I'd rather listen to Justin Beaver." Merlin looked offended and was about to defend the band before Arthur cut him off, bringing out his own iPod. "Don't worry, cupcake, I've got Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand on here so we should be good."<br>Merlin's jaw fell. "Oh. My. Gosh. You hypocrite! The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys have almost an identical sound! They shoot for the same audience! Hey, don't look at me like that. And eyes on the road."  
>Arthur looked back at the road, glaring at Merlin from the corner of his eyes. "Look, I'm driving so I choose what we listen to, pip-"<br>Before Arthur could make things worse by calling Merlin short, Morgana broke in. "Hey, don't I get an opinion? I want to listen to either Lily Allen or Kate Nash. Lily Allen made a new CD, and a friend got it for me, so we've gotta check it out."  
>Arthur and Merlin looked at each other before turning back to Morgana. "No."<br>Morgana scoffed in indignation. "Well, why not? They are certainly better than Franz Ferdinand!"  
>There was an audible gasp throughout the car. Then all hell broke loose. Merlin leaned an arm back and grabbed Morgana's hair, pulling hard. Morgana screeched and began tickling Merlin, something Merlin hated more than anything. Eventually, when Merlin and Morgana had calmed down, they decided to play We Are Scientists, The Killers, Donora, and another new band for Merlin called The Hoosiers.<br>Finally, they pulled up to the large lake and got out, running out to the cool water.

* * *

><p>AN:<p>

This is my first fic and I can honestly say that, while I am not entirely pleased with how it turned out, I had a lot of fun writing it C: I love multi-chapter fics, so this is probably going to be pretty long if I don't get bored with it. Btw, crappy ending is crappy, and i apologize ten fold. The character descriptions are completely off, I think, but they will work. I based Merlin and Morgana entirely on me. I drink hot coco all year and love pancake batter. It is awesome sauce and you know it. Also their character descriptions are based on me. Um, one thing to mention, all the bands mentioned in this fic (other than Camelot, of course) are 100 % real and are highly unappreciated (at least, in the States, they are). So, if you want, you can give them a listen on iTunes, Youtube, Pandora, what ever! They are all incredibly talented C: Anyway, rate and review or DIE! Kidding, kidding, but any advise, criticism, or encouragement would be much appreciated. I would like at least a little feed back so i know how I'm doing so far.

I wish you all fun, food, and plenty of FanFiction :P

Singcerely, Pans


	2. E for Getting Even

Gwen and Morgana immediately headed out to the water, while Arthur and Merlin sat on the lakeside shore, exchanging songs on their iPod playlists, filling out their resumes, and scheduling an impromptu interview with their new boss. Eventually, when guarding their technology and resumes from Morgana and her insane attempts to get them in the water by splashing them became boring, they pulled each other up and dashed to the water. Well, Arthur dashed. Merlin was afraid it was cold and refused to actually get in, sitting instead on the dock, dangling his feet in the water, and watching the three other teens play games, tease each other, and just generally have fun. It was something he had become accustomed to as a child.

Arthur, watching the teen _not _having fun (no matter how much he insisted against this), decided then and there it was his mission to make the boy's life as interesting as possible. Just then a brilliant plan jumped to mind. He smirked as he shared the idea with Morgana and Gwen who laughed and nodded, going back to throwing the beach ball they had brought with them at each other. The goal originally had been to both throw the ball _to_ a person. But after they figured out it was hard enough to stay above water and throw the correct distance to hit anyone, without needing to worry about catching it as well, it became a game of ball tag more than a game of catch.

Arthur laughed and rolled his eyes when Gwen managed to nail Morgana directly in the face as she was teasing Arthur. He gave her a quick thumbs up, which went unnoticed as Gwen was too concerned over Morgana's well being. Which Arthur found completely idiotic. It wasn't as if she had hit the ebony haired girl with a bomb.

Arthur sank beneath the surface of the water and swam towards Merlin.

Merlin, on the other hand, was busy filling out a resume for a quaint little sandwich and smoothie place called "Liquid Lollipops", but everyone called it "Lollie's". On his list of favorite places, Lollie's took fourth place out of five. It was small and not overly popular, meaning that while it was filled with the noise of the living, it was not infested with it. It also helped that it was down the block from his top three favorite places: his uncle's bookstore, the house he (temporarily) shared with Arthur, Gwen, and Morgana while they attended collage, and the lake. His fifth favorite place was his mother's house, as it was so filled with that sense of home that you could only find where you grew up, that it was suffocating. In a good way, of course.

Suddenly, as he was getting down to the job experience section, Merlin felt a hand grip his foot. Then, before he could even scream, he was pulled under water. He felt the thing holding his foot drag him deeper and deeper until his foot touched the wet sand at the bottom of the lake. Then, he felt his foot being released. Merlin raced to the surface. He was running out of oxygen and fast.

When he resurfaced, he felt like he was dying of asphyxiation. A little while later, he recognized the sound out laughter, he growled and swished around, looking for who it was that had dragged him under. He turned to see Arthur, laughing to the point of tears. Merlin, out of anger at both the near fatal trick that he had played and the fact that during that trick, his resume had been drowned, roared and attacked Arthur. He tackled him from behind, climbing on his back and shoving him under water, holding him there for what he guessed to be two minutes. Arthur came back up, sputtering and spewing water.

"Bloody hell, Merlin! You could have killed me!", Arthur yelled after he regained the ability.

"You think so? Maybe I should have kept you under longer.", Merlin said sarcastically. When Arthur looked at him like he was mental, he simply said, "It was pay back. You yourself said I should stick up for myself more. Well there you are!"

Arthur scoffed. "Oh please. Me taking you to the bottom couldn't have killed you. Don't be a drama queen."

Merlin smiled. "Shouldn't be too hard considering I'm not female."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Really? Huh, could have fooled me."

Merlin's pleased smile melted into an expression that clearly said "Really?" and then splashed Arthur directly in the face. Arthur returned the favor and soon they were in a splash war to rival the ages. And it only got better when Merlin accidentally splashed Morgana.

Morgana, now completely soaked, turned to the two boys. "Who did that?", she asked in that sugary sweet tone of voice that told you you were in trouble. See, Morgana isn't like most people. When she gets angry, she doesn't go straight to shouting. She uses a sweet voice and asks something completely innocent when really it's all part of her plan. After she finds out what she wants, she either raves and rants for hours on end to the person she's upset with, ignores them until they make fools of themselves trying to get her forgiveness, or gets even. That angelic voice is like the rainbow before the storm. When Arthur suddenly pointed at him, yelling, "It was him!", he knew which she was going to do now.

"Oh, it is so on!" she yelled, splashing me and Arthur at the same time. "Come on Gwen, be a friend and help me beat these nerds into oblivion!"

"Bring it on, sea hags!", Arthur yelled, egging her on. They were now on sides; boys against girls. As they all splashed their hardest, Gwen shoved the beach ball hard into the water, causing water to erupt all around it, showering both sides, the boys more than the girls. Gwen and Morgana laughed and high five-d.

"Hey, no fair, if they get the beach ball, we should get the water guns!", Merlin whispered loudly to Arthur, who whipped his head to look at him in surprise.

"You actually brought the water guns? How many?"

"Five of them. Mine, your double shooters, Morgana's mega blast, and Gwen's shot gun shooter." I said, sticking up a finger for each one that I listed. Arthur smirked and I could practically see the plan forming in his mind.

"They don't need to know that you brought all of them, now do they? I'll distract them; you go get your gun and mine." I nodded and headed out. "Both of them!", Arthur called after me.

Merlin swam under the dock and reached his hand over the side and into the travel bag they'd brought (it was mostly filled with food, though). he searched with his hands for the guns and quickly found them. Merlin rushed over to Arthur, who was throwing all kinds of insults, teases, and jests at Gwen and Morgana, who were splashing harder than ever and giving retorts of their own. He threw the two guns at Arthur, already setting his gun and filling it with water.

As all splashing halted on the boy's side, the girls also stopped, talking amongst themselves, trying to understand what was going on. Seeing the guns they immediately ducked as the shooting started. They squealed and screeched as the boys began getting the upper hand. "Not! Fair!", they yelled. "We want our guns!"

Arthur, not stopping his attack, laughed. "Ooh, sorry girls! These are the only ones we have on us!"

Gwen whispered to Morgana. "I think their lying. I'm gonna go sneak over and check." Morgana nodded and went back to splashing the two traitors. Gwen successfully made it to the dock and dug through their bag, finding the two extra guns hidden under a few towels. She began filling them both.

"Hey, boys!", Gwen sing song-ed. As the boys turned to see who had called, they were both sprayed directly in the face. Before they could retaliate, Gwen threw Morgana's gun to her and she caught it expertly. She quickly sprayed the boys from the back, causing their attention to be split between the onslaught of water coming at them from all sides.

"Merlin, you get Gwen, I'll get Morgana!"

Merlin nodded as they turned to face their separate opponents.

"On three! One! Two! Three!", Arthur roared as he started shooting Morgana with quick bursts of liquid ice and shielded his face as much as possible. Merlin copied Arthur's fighting method perfectly.

Eventually, the teens got tired and gave up on trying to hit each other, instead focusing on trying regain all the heat they had lost playing in the lake. They all huddled around the small travel bag they had brought, searching for towels, only to find that, while they had brought an extra water gun, they had forgotten a towel. Someone had to share.

Arthur, ever the flirt, had insisted that he and Gwen share the towel. Gwen said Merlin and Morgana should share, since they were twins. Merlin agreed with Arthur, but only because it made Arthur mad and Gwen blush. Morgana honestly didn't care, as long as she got her own blanket. After all, she'd never been a fan of sharing. Eventually, the Emrys Twins plus Gwen hatched a plan.

Merlin distracted Arthur by asking how things with Sophia were going, teasing him about cheating on her by crushing on Vivian while dating her. Arthur was then too busy bragging about his latest astonishing feat getting Sophia to break up with him, while trying to get into Vivian's (stone cold) heart to notice the towels, and his friends start to disappear.

Apparently, Sophia only liked him for his money, his football status, and his looks. He could be as dumb as a rock and she would still fawn over him like a mother over her children ("That's good, then. Seeing as you're actually dumber than a rock for going out with her in the first place.", Merlin commented helpfully. The sentiment was not appreciated, as Arthur threw an empty plastic bottle at him).

Arthur was apparently more into the "hard to get" type of girl, as he was going after Vivian, a girl who couldn't love her own mother. Merlin and the others didn't particularly like her for leading Arthur on like she was. Considering she was a lesbian.

Anyway, as Arthur daydreamed about getting Sophia out of his life and Vivian into it, Merlin, Morgana, and Gwen were busy enclosing themselves in the warmth of the only three towels they'd brought. They then dashed to the car before Arthur woke up from his daydreams, grabbing the bag and the guns on the way there. Merlin quickly fished out the keys he had "confiscated" from Arthur earlier and opened the trunk and the car doors.

He tossed the bag in carelessly, as well as grabbing a Pepsi, a coke, a root beer, a diet Dr. Pepper, and a water from the cooler in the back. On second thought, he also grabbed his wallet and phone, shoving them in his pocket as he made his way over to the passenger side door. He opened it and heaved himself into the seat, reaching over the driver's seat and pushing the correct key into the ignition, starting up the heat in the car.

The roar of the engine seemed to alert Arthur to the fact that life was going on without him while he spaced out. He jumped then turned around wildly, looking for him missing friends. Noticing the load noise to be a car engine, he turned in our direction. We waved at him as he fumed and stomped his way childishly to the car. He grabbed the driver's door handle and swung it open viciously, glaring at all of us.

"What-why-how-when..."

"Is 'What are you doing in my car?' the question you were looking for?" Merlin interrupted Arthur's pathetic angry stuttering. "Because, if you'll remember, we only own one car between the four of us. We all equally pay for the car, just like the house. More or less."

"Or is 'Why did we steal the blankets?' your question?" Gwen followed up. "Because, you weren't going to do anything about it. And besides, you cheated in the Water War. And before you say it, yes, Merlin did too, but that's just because you intimidated and peer-pressured him into doing it. Right Merlin?"

Merlin looked nervous, as he always did when he was put on the spot. "Um...yes?"

Gwen laughed, Morgana rolled her eyes but smiled, and Arthur snorted.

Morgana then piped up. "I think your real question was, "How did we get the towels before you noticed?". Two reasons. One, you're oblivious to everything and practically dead to the world when you space out. Two, we had Mellow Merlo here distract you so you would space out. Then we made our get away."

Arthur's anger returned and he turned to Merlin with an annoyed eyebrow raised. He backed up and swallowed loudly and audibly. Arthur sighed and climbed into the car, looking behind him as he began backing up and out of the small, deserted lake.

Morgana, being bored, made a game of squirting any random bystander, jogger, or biker who passed their car. She even invented a point system; butt shots: 5 points, head shots: 10 points, face shots: 20 points, anything else: 3 points. If they yelled at her, she got 35 points and if they fell, she got 50 points. Merlin was put in charge of keeping score, and by the time she got to 400, they were parked outside Lollie's.

The four teens hopped out and Arthur and Merlin went to the back to get their resumes. Then, Merlin remembered the watery death his own resume had met earlier at the lake. He grabbed Arthur's arm in panic.

"Arthur, I can't go in there. I don't have a resume!"

Arthur looked at him like he was crazy. "Yeah you do. It's right here in our folder."

Arthur brought out a pink folder with an animated strawberry on the front. Inside, there were indeed two resumes.

"B-but, when we were at the lake...How? It fell in the water when you dragged me underwater...didn't it?"

Arthur looked confused. "No it didn't. I found it just laying on the dock while you guys were looking for the towels and shoved it in our folder. Why would you think it fell?"

Merlin just smiled and shrugged, shaking his head. "Who knows? Let's hurry up and get inside. I'm still kind of hungry and Will makes the best Italian sandwiches in all of England, but he got off a few minutes ago. If we're lucky he'll still be there."

Arthur rolled his eyes, but nodded. When they got inside, it occurred to Merlin that there was quite a lot of people inside. More than usual, at least.

"Merlin? What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

Merlin looked up at the counter to see that the faceless voice had, in fact, come from Will himself.

"Will! Ha, I could ask you the same thing! Your shift ended a few minutes ago. Were you just waiting up for me?" Merlin asked cheekily. Arthur fake gagged, going to sit at the table their friends were waving at them wildly from.

Will glared at him as he passed before smiling at Merlin. "Actually, I kind of was. When I saw your sister, I knew you couldn't be too far behind, so I decided I'd wait. After all, I know how much you adore me; I couldn't just let you down like that."

They both laughed at this

"So, who's the douche bag?", Will asked, nodding his head toward Arthur, who was pointing towards his watch.

Merlin waved the comment away. "Oh, that's just Arthur. He can be a bit of a prat, but-"

"A bit? Ha, that's a laugh! Listen; if he ever gives you a hard time, just come tell ol' Will here and I'll teach him a lesson or two about messing with my friends. Alright?"

Merlin nodded, laughing. "Alright, Captain Willie." Hearing the old nickname, Will gave a salute and Merlin chuckled. "Oh, hey, do you know if Alice is in yet? The prat and I kind of have an interview with her in", he checked his watch. "Two minutes."

Will laughed. "Always a minute early, huh. Some thing's never change, I guess. Alice got in a few minutes ago. She was soaking wet and not very happy. I asked her what went on and she said something about some crazy kid squirting her with a water gun while she was walking to work."

Merlin couldn't help but laugh a little at that. Okay, maybe a bit more than a little, but it was reasonable considering he knew his sister was the "crazy kid with the water gun". Still, Will shot him a look that clearly said he thought Merlin was crazy. "C-could you tell her we're here?" Merlin asked through his giggles.

Will gave him a confused look, before nodding. "Sure. And is there something you want while you're waiting?"

Merlin suddenly remembered his friends waiting at the table. "Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me! Um...four smoothies, two chocolates, one blueberry, and a peach. Then could you make four of your infamously good Italian subs for me? Please?"

Will laughed, nodding. "See, I knew you adored me. Or my cooking, at least."

Merlin smiled and began getting out his wallet before a hand covered his own. He looked up to see Will, with a slight blush on his cheeks, smiling at him. "Don't worry about it. It's on the house."

"Oh no, I couldn't have you pay for my food. It would feel like I was using you."

"Its okay, Merlin. Just chill. Consider it a 'congrats on passing your finals' gift."

Merlin gaped at him. "How did you know?"

Will chuckled. "We always get the most customers the day final scores are released. Besides, if you hadn't passed, you would have called me to gripe and whine about it." Merlin playfully hit Will on the shoulder but smiled. "Well, I'd better get back to my table before Morgana waves her arm off or Arthur attacks me for taking too long."

Will smiled, nodding. "Remember what I said about that prick, okay. Just call me and I'll handle it. And tell your sister I said hi."

Merlin smiled. "Will do."

When he came back to the table he was immediately bombarded by questions.

"Who's that and why does he keep glaring at me like I killed his mother?"

"Who was that? You seemed quite familiar with him. Not that I'm trying to pry or anything! And you don't have to tell me. Not that you wouldn't want to tell me. I'm very trust worthy and I…I'll just stop talking now…"

"Did you even order our food?"

Merlin held up a hand, signaling for his three curious friends to shut up. "Whoa, whoa, if you have questions, ask them one at a time.

Morgana began. "You were supposed to order food sometime while you were up there flirting with the cashier. Where is it?"

Merlin blushed. "For one, I was not flirting with him. Also, I did order food, but it takes more than two minutes to make. So relax, sit down, and try not to embarrass me too much. After all, I'm gonna be working here soon enough. Oh, and Will says hi."

Morgana suddenly perked up, looking back to the front counter. Unfortunately, Will was already in the kitchen and another worker had taken his spot. "Will's here?"

"Will? Is that the nutter who was giving me the death glare before?", Arthur said.

"Yes, and the only reason he was glaring at you is because even he could see how big of a prat you are."

Morgana snorted. "Yeah, that and the fact Arthur was within five feet of you, talking and laughing with you. Merlin, it really isn't nice for to lead him on like that. You know he's been crushing on you since we were kids. Why-"

"Whoa, whoa, wait, hold up. Will's got the hots for Merlin? Since when?"

Merlin opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by Morgana. "Only since forever! I still remember that one time, at the park-"

"Morgana, you wouldn't!", Merlin moaned.

Morgana smiled evilly, clearly up to something. What, though, Arthur was curious to know. "Oh, but I would, brother dearest.", Morgana said with an (authentic) evil laugh.

"Please Morgan, no!" The smile on her lips clearly gave him his answer. He pouted in defeat. "Fine then, be a prat, but I'm not going to sit here and listen to this." Instead of clamoring over Arthur, who looked rather amused by the situation, he covered his ears with his hands and began humming childishly.

"This must be some story if Merlin's willing to beg for you not to tell. Well then, Morgan, spill it! What exactly did Will do to make little Merlo here redder than a cherry?"

Morgana chuckled, before waving both Arthur and Gwen in, whispering conspiratorially. "Wills family and ours have been friends since forever and Will and Merlin were practically born holding hands. But when we were seven and goofing off in the park, a dog came out and tried to bite our heads off. While Merlin and I hid behind Will, he threw a big rock at it. After it ran away, we hugged and thanked Will like crazy. But apparently the only thanks he wanted was a kiss. So he went up to Merlin the next day with a handful of Merlin's favorite flowers and kissed Merlin on the cheek, then ran away. We didn't see him for a week after. Since then, on Merlin's birthday, Will always buys him those flowers along with whatever comic book he's into currently."

Merlin suddenly piped up. "Hey! They are not comic books! They are called manga and they are-"

"Japanese graphic novels, yeah, we got it.", Morgana commented offhandedly and halfheartedly. Merlin scowled at her while Arthur laughed and Gwen smiled.

"That is so sweet! I can't believe Will would do that for someone! Not that he isn't that sweet or wouldn't do that for anyone. I-I'm saying that you're just anyone to him, Merlin! I'm just-it's just-"

"It's alright, Gwen. I think we get what you're trying to say.", Morgana said, smiling. Gwen blushed, embarrassed at her rambling.

Arthur suddenly burst out laughing. "M-Merlin, you're such a girl! 'Your favorite flowers'? Seriously?"

Merlin's already red face, blushed further. "Shut it, Pendragon."

Arthur, in Merlin-esc fashion, stuck his tongue out at him. "Make me, Emrys."

Merlin looked ready to do just that, when suddenly, Will appeared beside their table, holding four "Sub and Smoothie" combos. "Alright, Merlin, here's your ultra-meaty Italian sub and chocolate, coma-inducing, smoothie, just like you like it. Morgana, I got you what you used to get at my moms shop back in Brent. Three different types of cheese, salami and turkey, olives, mayo, then spicy bread, right? And then an equally, if not more so, chocolaty smoothie with the diet button pushed down so you feel healthy." Here, he winked and Morgana giggled, nodding and taking the food from his overfilled arms.

"Arthur, I believe it was, Merlin told me about you. Said you're a real prat." Arthur glared at Will, then at Merlin who was laughing loudly now. "Anyway, he didn't really tell me what you wanted, so I guessed you were more into spicy than meaty or…odd, in Morgana's case." Morgana smiled at this. In Emrys terms, this was a compliment. "So I got you a sub loaded with pepper jack cheese, spicy turkey, olives, and this special sauce my mom taught me how to make." At this Arthur raised an eyebrow. He did, in fact, like spicy food quite a lot. Though he doubted Will knew that. So how did he know to make Arthur spicy food? "If you don't like it, I get the pleasure of making you another one, so please enjoy it."

Will now looked at Gwen. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you, Miss. I just made you a regular Italian sub, and I'll go ahead and guess the peach smoothies yours. Slap me if I'm wrong." Gwen laughed and nodded. Will passed the food over to her and left the blueberry smoothie next to Arthur's plate.

"Yes, that's mine. And I'm sure a regular Italian sub is fine, Will."

"Ah, I see I've already been introduced. In that case, there's no need to say that if you find anything less than my best, which isn't that good, than come get me. I'll be behind the counter, throwing bits of old receipt at Freya, our new intern."

Merlin laughed. "Freya's here too? Well then tell her I said hi! And don't torture the poor girl too much, alright Willie. She's had it really hard after…you know. And don't beat yourself up so much about your cooking skills; not everyone can be as great a cook as me."

Will pouted. "Now that's just mean. Depriving me of both my only source of enjoyment and all my confidence as a chief, that's cold, kid. Real cold."

Merlin snickered. "Well, I can say this about your cooking; you are the best I've ever seen at reading people. I didn't even tell you what we wanted and you happened to get all the orders right to tee. That, my friend, is talent. Honestly, why didn't you major in cooking. You'd have made one hell of a chef."

Will blushed. "Not my fault. I didn't have enough money, or merit, to get into the good colleges. Anyway, I-" Merlin interrupted him mid sentence. "No sir, we are not backing off this topic until you admit that you are a great chef. And that the only reason you aren't on TV with a cook show like a male Rachael Ray is because you were too proud to except either help or money from me during college."

Will huffed and remained silent. Then a sluggish, but devious smile made its way onto his face. "Alright, but you asked for it, Merlo."

Will then ran to the nearest empty table and climbed on top, standing tall and proud, saying (more like screaming), "I am a great chef and the sole reason I am not with a TV cook and talk show like a male Rachael Ray, is because I was too much of a supercilious prat to except help from the ever lovely Merlin Emrys." He bowed to Merlin, making him turn beet red. "Thank you for helping me realize this, Merlin. You are a true friend."

Gwen and Morgana were cracking up, while Arthur looked like he was starting to reconsider letting Merlin sit by him. Then Merlin piped up. "I don't know him!"

Will hopped off the table. "Oh, but you do! Don't you remember when we were seven and-"

Merlin hopped up, crawled over Arthur, and ran outside, his face an impossible shade of red. Will looked amused at first, but after a few glares from various customers, Freya, Morgana and Arthur, who had began to get up, he raced out after the thin boy.

After looking for a while, he found Merlin slumped against a blue SUV, almost in tears. Even as Will sat next to him, Merlin refused to look up at him.

"Merlin, I'm sorry-"

"That's just it, Will. You're not; you never are. You never regret anything you do…I'm a little jealous."

Will gawked. "Why in the world would you be jealous of me? Merlin, you've had a blessed life. You have a wonderful mother, a caring sister, and more friends than I've had in years. You're liked by everyone you meet and you don't even try! You're unique and funny and smart and good at everything you try. But me…I'm just Will."

Merlin smiled up at him, tears falling freely. "And that's all you have to be. That's all you'll ever have to be, just…Will. People like you, Will, not because you're a good cook or cause you have hair like Justin Bieber, but because of how simple you make everything you do look. You make life look easy. You don't have regrets or consequences. You don't have people who you have to meet the expectations of or have to fake a smile just so you don't break down...You're right. I have a mom and a sister and friends, but I'm too negative to see the good things in life. All I see is the bad, unlike you who…who…"

Will grabbed Merlin in a hug and held him tight as he cried, mumbling comforting things to him and patting his back. Will smiled as he remembered when Merlin had done the same for him, after the park incident when they were seven. And again when they were twelve, and Merlin had rejected him. And yet again after...that. Will frowned, thinking he should really man up and stop crying all the time, no matter how good it felt to let it out. Will sighed, now who was the girl, Merlin or himself.

"Hey Will?"

"Hmm?"

"You know you'll always be my best friend, right?"

Will raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in conversation. "Of course, and you'll always be mine."

Merlin smiled at that, but it quickly disappeared. "Then you'll promise not to tell anyone if I tell you something, right?"

Will was really curious now. "You know that I would never give out your secrets if you didn't want me too. Unless, of course, it does more damage to not spill it. Wait, you didn't steal a car or kill somebody or anything, right?"

Merlin laughed lightly, but tears were spilling out of his beautiful baby blues. "No, nothing like that. But it's almost as bad." It was silent before Merlin took a shaky breath and broke it. "They…they found my father."

Will held his breath, nodding. He thought he knew where this was going. And he was praying to God up in Heaven that he was wrong. "Is he safe?"

Merlin suddenly burst out crying as he shook his head in the negative. Will's face collapsed and he felt tears running down his own face now. "Oh God, Merlin…I...I am so…_so_ sorry, Merlin…"

The two boys sat, holding onto each other as they cried. In the distance, behind the car, a very confused Arthur sat. He got up and went back inside, more worried about Merlin than he'd ever been.

"You can't tell them. Gwen and Arthur know nothing about…that. And Morgana is just so happy…" Merlin smiled, like keeping all the people he cared about was the only thing that mattered. And to Merlin, it kind of was. "The funeral's on Monday so I'll tell her tomorrow and we can head out for Queens on Sunday."

Will smiled and nodded. "Alright. Do you want me to come?"

"And have you eat all the food? No way." Merlin snorted and Will laughed. "Will, you're good at seeing the good things in life, right? Can you tell me some of them?"

Will smiled. "Alright. Well, you know how Freya and how I kept asking her out when we were 16, right?" Merlin nodded. "Well, she finally said yes."

Merlin's jaw fell. "Will! That's great! Why-when did this happen?"

"…About six months ago, but I swear I was gonna tell you! I just got so distracted…"

"For six months? What could distracted you for six months? No, never mind, I don't wanna know. Is there anything else you've neglected to tell me?"

Will chuckled nervously. "Yeah, Alice wanted you in her office," he checked his watch then, "ten minutes ago."

* * *

><p>AN:<p>

I forced myself to stay awake after eating breakfast with my dad before work at 5:45 in the morning to finish and edit this, so you best be happy with it :( Haha, no, kidding but this was kind of late and that's totally my fault (too lazy to type, that's me :P). I wrote this while listening to Donora and OkGo but that's mostly irrelevant. Anyway, you may have noticed that the titles are completely random and they probably will be. Some will be letters (my fave being Q) and some will be song titles. So enjoy that :)

Also, there is a few things in this chapter that i SOOO wanted to add but it either didn't fit or it had been used by another author and i decided i was gonna be cool and not copy everyone else. For one, i REALLY wanted to use the nickname "Morgs" for Morgana, but i heard it in a different fic and i didn't wanna be a stealer :P So i used Morgan. I was considering using Merls for Merlin, but that just kind of sounds stupid so i used my old nicky-name for him; Mellow Merlo. I'm so hip XD Also, i really REALLY wanted this seen in there, but since it wouldn't fit, i'm gonna put it in here, for your viewer enjoyment.

_(After Will made that comment about being behind the bar, annoying Freya, he actually did that, instead of annoying Merlin)_

_"How did he know what i wanted if you didn't tell him?", Arthur asked Merlin as he began eating his (surprisingly delicious) sandwich._

_"Because, Arthur, he's a mind reader. You were thinking about food, were you not? He just took it from there."_

_Arthur actually thought about this for a moment before hitting Merlin in the arm, realizing that he was just jesting._

_ After they finished, Merlin threw their trash away and went to put the trays up, stopping in front of the counter, next to Will._

_"Hey Will, you spit in his food didn't you?"_

_Will looked completely confused for a second then he smiled as innocently as he could. "Whatever do you mean, Merlin?"_

_"Will, you never act that nice to people you hate unless you've just got even with them. What did you do to Arthur's food?"_

_Will's smile spread and he burst out laughing. "L-laxatives. I couldn't help it, mate, it was just the perfect opportunity..."_

_Merlin laughed, but then something occurred to him and he narrowed his eyes. "You better hope it starts working before we get home because if our only bathroom is broken because of you, I'll force you to come fix it."_

i hope you liked it :) Who knows, maybe it will end up in the next chap. You'll just have to wait and see.

Please Rate and Review, it makes me feel warm like cookies inside.

I wish you all food, fun, and plenty of freetime :)

Sarcastically, Pans


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